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A study of the impact of parameter optimization on ENSO predictability with an intermediate coupled model

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Abstract

Model error is a major obstacle for enhancing the forecast skill of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Among three kinds of model error sources—dynamical core misfitting, physical scheme approximation and model parameter errors, the model parameter errors are treatable by observations. Based on the Zebiak-Cane model, an ensemble coupled data assimilation system is established to study the impact of parameter optimization (PO) on ENSO predictions within a biased twin experiment framework. “Observations” of sea surface temperature anomalies drawn from the “truth” model are assimilated into a biased prediction model in which model parameters are erroneously set from the “truth” values. The degree by which the assimilation and prediction with or without PO recover the “truth” is a measure of the impact of PO. Results show that PO improves ENSO predictability—enhancing the seasonal-interannual forecast skill by about 18 %, extending the valid lead time up to 33 % and ameliorating the spring predictability barrier. Although derived from idealized twin experiments, results here provide some insights when a coupled general circulation model is initialized from the observing system.

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Notes

  1. β is a generalized notation of (θ, T 1, T 2, S 1, S 2, γ) in this study.

  2. Please refer to Sects. 3.4 and 3.5 for the details of the integration of the truth and assimilation models.

Abbreviations

EAKF:

Ensemble adjustment Kalman filter

SE:

State estimation

PO:

Parameter optimization

CTL:

Model control run

ENSO:

El Niño-Southern Oscillation

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mark A. Cane and Donna Lee for providing the codes of the ZC model. This research is co-sponsored by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation (41306006, 41376015, 41376013, 41176003, and 41206178), the National Basic Research Program (2013CB430304), the National High-Tech R&D Program (2013AA09A505), and the Global Change and Air–Sea Interaction (GASI-01-01-12) of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Information Technology, State Oceanic Administration, National Marine Data and Information Service, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China

    Xinrong Wu & Guijun Han

  2. GFDL/NOAA, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Shaoqing Zhang

  3. Center for Climate Research and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WS, USA

    Zhengyu Liu

  4. Lab. of Ocean-Atmos. Studies, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengyu Liu

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  1. Xinrong Wu
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Correspondence to Xinrong Wu.

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Wu, X., Han, G., Zhang, S. et al. A study of the impact of parameter optimization on ENSO predictability with an intermediate coupled model. Clim Dyn 46, 711–727 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2608-z

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